In particular, I know the wife wants to read ebooks from the countywide library system. And again, I think if she could watch Netflix on it over the wifi we have in the house she would be really happy. If she could play Sudoku on it too she'd be in ecstatic.

Libraries use the epub standard that Nooks use - someone can chime in if Kindle uses these yet ? rather than the mobi standard they traditionally use ?

In particular, I know the wife wants to read ebooks from the countywide library system. And again, I think if she could watch Netflix on it over the wifi we have in the house she would be really happy. If she could play Sudoku on it too she'd be in ecstatic.

Sounds like it's a tablet, then Mr Wiz.

Kindle HD looks very nice, and the price is good - but I suspect one of the others would have a better progs access.

The Kindle e-readers don't support DRM'd books, without using Calibre and plugin to remove it (which isn't a big problem if you are happy to do stuff on a PC).

(I've just got 'er indoors a Kindle for Xmas, and have checked that she can use DRM'd books from our local library by the use of Calibre, which we can do)

My wife reads a ton. She's the local middle school media aide (new fanged term for librarian). She handles a lot of books and as you might imagine laptops and notebooks. Several teachers have Kindle Fire HD's and love them. She has for some reason thought the Nook might be better but I'm not exactly sure why. I know she doesn't know a lot about these because she told me so.

I think based on what I'm reading here maybe the Nook is the best e-reader if reading local library books is #1. I believe that's #1. Everything else is secondary.

I wouldn't get a nook for any purpose. I consider it to be a dead end product with a limited future. But that just my advice.

See if Calibre has an android app, then get an android tablet (kindle HD, Nexus 7, Galaxy).

From the Caliber website...

Quote:

How do I use calibre with my Android phone/tablet or Kindle Fire HD?

There are two ways that you can connect your Android device to calibre. Using a USB cable – or wirelessly, over the air. The first step to using an Android device is installing an ebook reading application on it. There are many free and paid ebook reading applications for Android: Some examples (in no particular order): FBReader, Moon+, Mantano, Aldiko, Kindle.

Over the air

The easiest way to transfer books wirelessly to your Android device is to use the Calibre Companion Android app. This app is maintained by a core calibre developer and allows calibre to connect to your Android device wirelessly, just as though you plugged in the device with a USB cable. You can browse files on the device in calibre and use the Send to device button to transfer files to your device wirelessly.

calibre also has a builtin web server, the Content Server. You can browse your calibre collection on your Android device is by using the calibre content server, which makes your collection available over the net. First perform the following steps in calibre

Set the Preferred Output Format in calibre to EPUB for normal Android devices or MOBI for Kindles (The output format can be set under Preferences->Interface->Behavior)
Convert the books you want to read on your device to EPUB/MOBI format by selecting them and clicking the Convert button.
Turn on the Content Server in calibre‘s preferences and leave calibre running.

Replace 192.168.1.2 with the local IP address of the computer running calibre. If your local network supports the use of computer names, you can replace the IP address with the network name of the computer. If you have changed the port the calibre content server is running on, you will have to change 8080 as well to the new port.

The local IP address is the IP address you computer is assigned on your home network. A quick Google search will tell you how to find out your local IP address. You can now browse your book collection and download books from calibre to your device to open with whatever ebook reading software you have on your android device.

Some reading programs support browsing the Calibre library directly. For example, in Aldiko, click My Catalogs, then + to add a catalog, then give the catalog a title such as “Calibre” and provide the URL listed above. You can now browse the Calibre library and download directly into the reading software.

Can I access my calibre books using the web browser in my Kindle or other reading device?

calibre has a Content Server that exports the books in calibre as a web page. You can turn it on under Preferences->Network->Sharing over the net. Then just point the web browser on your device to the computer running the Content Server and you will be able to browse your book collection. For example, if the computer running the server has IP address 63.45.128.5, in the browser, you would type:

Some devices, like the Kindle (1/2/DX), do not allow you to access port 8080 (the default port on which the content server runs. In that case, change the port in the calibre Preferences to 80. (On some operating systems, you may not be able to run the server on a port number less than 1024 because of security settings. In this case the simplest solution is to adjust your router to forward requests on port 80 to port 8080).

In any case, try this out before the return policy expires. You can always send it back.

I wouldn't get a nook for any purpose. I consider it to be a dead end product with a limited future. But that just my advice.

.

Nooks are Android tablets just like Kindles, with their own android app store and all, I've used both and would recommend both.

As far as a limited future - we are talking tech toys here - 5 years from now, all these are going into the junk drawer (the cheapest - lightest basic nook/kindles will last the longest since they are just for reading).

Even with the zillions of Nooks in the family, I read on a Ipad - which has both Kindle and Nook support and access to your purchased libraries from Amazon and B&N.

Calibre is great, but converting books is still a pain - and moreso if you are monkeying around with DRM

Nooks are Android tablets just like Kindles, with their own android app store and all, I've used both and would recommend both.

As far as a limited future - we are talking tech toys here - 5 years from now, all these are going into the junk drawer (the cheapest - lightest basic nook/kindles will last the longest since they are just for reading).

Even with the zillions of Nooks in the family, I read on a Ipad - which has both Kindle and Nook support and access to your purchased libraries from Amazon and B&N.

Calibre is great, but converting books is still a pain - and moreso if you are monkeying around with DRM

Hmmm... haven't found it to be much of a prob, radix2..

I use it to manage, i.e. keep copies, of my books on my PC (and to update the metamedia, i.e. Icon covers, groups and descriptions) and, once I added the DRM plugin, it all gets converted automatically when I transfer them to my Kindle.

(But then everything is easy when you have a Brain The Size Of A Planet! )

I use it to manage, i.e. keep copies, of my books on my PC (and to update the metamedia, i.e. Icon covers, groups and descriptions) and, once I added the DRM plugin, it all gets converted automatically when I transfer them to my Kindle.

(But then everything is easy when you have a Brain The Size Of A Planet! )

as I said, we have around 14-15 e-readers in the family - that means 6-8 people, 4 of which are 75+ who need support and want books from all sorts of places. So you are right, it is easy, but easier still is not having to mess with them (yes, I am lazy and grumpy).

On the Ipad - iBooks also uses the epub format - so you are good to go with the library on that. A good way to transfer into the Ipad is to use dropbox and the dropbox app.